New luxury mall opens in Gaza City

Monday, July 19, 2010 |
Israel Today Staff

The residents of Gaza City - capital of the most destitute territory on earth, if mainstream media reports are to be believed - joyously celebrated the opening a new luxury shopping mall at the weekend.

The grand opening of Gaza Mall was a carnival-like experience complete with clowns and other entertainers.

Despite the significance of the event for local residents, the thousands of foreign media correspondents who spend nearly all their time focusing on this tiny coastal strip completely ignored the mall's opening.

Journalist and media analyst Tom Gross, who has made it his mission of late to call out the press on its biased reporting on Gaza, noted that apparently the new mall doesn't fit with the popular image of Gaza as a land wallowing in squalor thanks to the limited Israeli embargo on it.

"On a day when (because EU Foreign Policy Chief Baroness Ashton is in Gaza) the BBC and other media have featured extensive reports all day long on what they term the dire economic situation in Gaza, why are they not mentioning the new shopping mall that opened there yesterday?" Gross asked.

Gross also noted that the mall is clear evidence that Palestinian and European accusations that Israel is denying Gaza building materials are outright lies.